Thirty years from the deadly sarin nerve gas attack in Tokyo’s metro network, the survivors and families who lose loved ones are still seeking justice.
Thirteen people were killed and thousands of people became ill when members of the cult released Sarin nerve gas in the metro trains of the capital on March 20, 1995. The attack is one of the most shocking atrocities in Japan, known for low crime rates.
20 years later, a survivor recalls Japan’s Sarin Gas attack and how it affected his life
The creed, Aum Shinriquo or the supreme truth, has been dissolved since then. Its founder, Shoko Ashar and his 12 disciples were killed in 2018.
But 1,600 former members still work under enrolled groups and have ignored an order to pay losses to the remaining people and bereaved families.
In the attack, Shizu Takahashi lost her husband, a deputy station master. After raising three children at the time of tragedy, the couple were just starting to enjoy themselves.
78 -year -old Takahashi said, “My life is still being ruined by AUM and its successor groups.”
People kept gasping for the wind and collapsed
During the morning crowd, at 8 am, five creed members found separate train cars, converging at Kasumigesi at the government center of Kasumigesi, Japan, who had each dropping bags of Sarin on the floor of the train. He punctured the bag with umbrellas, releasing gas inside train cars.
Within a few minutes, the passengers pulled out of the trains on the platforms, rubbing their eyes and gasping for the wind. Some collapsed. Others fled the streets where ambulances and rescue workers in the Hazmat Suit gave first assistance.
A subway sign, center top, is seen at Kodenmacho station, which was influenced by a malignant sarin nerve gas attack in Tokyo 30 years ago, as a passenger exits his exit on Thursday, 20 March 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Kazumasa Takahashi did not know that the puddle he was cleaning on the floor of the metro car was Sarin. He fell down with removing a bag – a sacrifice some survivors said that life survived – and never woke up.
The attack became more than 6,000 ill. In 2020, a 14th victim died, who was struggling with Gambhir after a serious impact.
Yaji Nakamura, a lawyer of the survivors and bereaved families, says that after a bottled police investigation, the metro gasing has failed to join the crimes before a bottled police investigation. “It could be stopped,” he said.
Two days after Gesing, the Tokyo police took a canned canary to detect poison, raided the headquarters of Om near Mount Fuji, where the farmers lived together, trained and produced Sarin. Ashar was found in a hidden compartment.
Apocaliptic cult
Born in 1955, Chizuo Matsumoto, Ashar founded Aum Shinriquo in 1984. The Panth jointly attracted joint Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Yoga and disillusioned young people with materialism. He taught that death can raise their souls and justify murder as a quality.
The followers paid Ashar’s bath water to drink and wore electrical head gear, believing that his brain waves were synchronized with the Guru. He predicted an adjacent apocalypse, which will survive only true believers.
Ashar gathered doctors, lawyers and scientists from the top universities of Japan as his closest colleagues.
Using donations from yoga classes and health food businesses from followers and earnings, they bought land and equipment. Scientists from Ashar developed and manufactured Sarin, VX and other chemical and biological weapons.
In 1989, its members killed a lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, who opposed the creed, his wife and the boy’s boy. His criminal activities increased after his defeat in the 1990 parliamentary elections. Eight died and more than 140 others were injured in a 1994 Sarin attack in Central Japanese city of Matsumoto.
Overall, the AUM killed 27 people in more than a dozen attacks, which ended in metro gassing. This was part of a plot to hurry Armagadon, imagining the government to overthrow.
Still demanding prevention
Shizu Takahashi participated in most AUM criminal trials. He has advocated for government support, has won over 6,000 people left to win a law to support crime victims and 3 billion yen ($ 20 million) government benefits.
The government has also implemented laws banning Sarin production and occupation, and has banned the activities of groups associated with mass murders. The police have since set up nuclear, organic and chemical weapons units and received training.
AUM’s chief successor, Alef, has ignored the court order to pay 1 billion yen ($ 6.7 million) in compensation to the survivors and condolences. The group has allegedly hidden the income of billions from yoga and spiritual seminars.
According to support groups, many metro people still suffer from health problems and trauma.
Takahashi and others called for justice minister Kisuki Suzuki to speed up compensation by Alef and keep them more in a close watch.
The survivors and their supporters say the lesson has not been shared adequately with the public.
Shoko Egawa, a journalist and expert in AUM crimes, says that instead of focusing on the group, focusing on their crimes on a large scale, rather than teach people to stay away from dangerous sects. “There is still a lot to learn from (AUM problems), in which they attract followers, so that we can prevent people from blaming our lives.”
Takahashi has recently launched a website, which compiles articles and comments by survivors, lawyers and writers, including the 2007 article of Haruki Murakami about his 1997 book “Underground”.
Aum’s remains
At its peak, the cult claimed over 10,000 followers in Japan and more than 30,000 in Russia and elsewhere. AUM has dissolved, but about 1,600 people related to Alef and two small groups in Japan still practice Ashar’s teachings, the public safety intelligence agency said, which monitors groups.
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Minoru Karia, whose father was killed by AUM members in early 1995, when he was trying to leave his sister a cult, said that the authorities need to do much more to deal with the danger.
“It’s scary that they still exist and are working as organizations and recruit new followers,” he said.
